Queen Elizabeth II Hall Programme

Friday 4th September 2026

Regulating rivers for the future (How will the new joined-up approach work in practice?)

Shosha Adie, Panel Chair
Speakers to be Announced

Monica Feria-Tinta - Do Rivers Have Rights

Monica Feria-Tinta, author of the acclaimed A Barrister for the Earth, delves into the concept of the Rights of Nature and looks at how this concept has been applied to rivers, with a particular emphasis on developments in the UK. Monica is a leading barrister at the Bar of England & Wales and a premier global expert in strategic environmental litigation, famously fighting to secure legal rights for natural entities like rivers, oceans, and ecosystems. She's acted as counsel in ground-breaking precedents on climate justice globally and on Rights of Nature, including in the landmark Los Cedros case. Monica is counsel for Mar Menor (European Court of Human Rights) and advised in the River Ouse river Charter, and River Wye's. Her book, A Barrister for the Earth, was a finalist at the Westminster Book Awards. Monica has been referred to as 'one of Britain's most dazzling legal minds’.

Toxic by Design

Panel Chair to be Announced
Pippa Neill

Pippa Neill is the news editor at ENDS Report and leads on waste and air pollution. Before joining ENDS, Pippa was the editor of Air Quality News and Environment Journal. Pippa was awarded the Journalist of the Year prize at the 2025 Association of Online Publishers awards, and in both 2024, 2025 and 2026 she won the Best News Writer category at the British Society of Magazine Editors Awards. Pippa was also a winner of the PPA Next Gen Awards in 2024. Her investigative work includes exposing for both the ENDS Report and the Guardian how the town of Bentham in North Yorkshire became the most PFAS polluted place in the UK. She was the associate producer of 'In Our Blood: The Forever Chemicals Scandal', an ITV Exposure documentary which revealed that residents in Bentham have elevated levels of PFAS in their blood
Bernice Pan

An award-winning sustainable entrepreneur combining vision, theory and practice, Bernice set her mission to problem-solve using design thinking and creative innovation; having identified the systemic issues of over-consumption early on. She gained her PhD in design management and systems engineering for The Fashion System, after architectural degrees at University of Cambridge and Royal College of Art, and a fashion career in New York and London.
Bernice founded DEPLOY on the principles of its novel 3600 Sustainability compass as a strategic action plan to reform fashion. Winner of the Great British Brand Awards amongst numerous accolades, her speaking engagements span from global summits to top-tier institutions. She is the Editor of Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing & Textiles and a contributing author to several books titles (125).
Bronte Ansell, Managing Director, Lawyers for Nature